The City of Fullerton announced on April 28 that it has filed a class action federal lawsuit against a number of fire apparatus, or fire vehicles, manufacturing and distributing companies.
The lawsuit names Oshkosh Corporation, REV Group, Inc. and Boise Mobile Equipment, Inc. as defendants, alongside several other companies. Fullerton alleges that these companies purposely colluded to participate in illegal anti-competitive behavior.
Both the city’s complaint and previous comments from fire departments note that the price for fire apparatus has almost doubled over the past decade.
In the letter, the International Association of Fire Fighters went on to detail how delivery for fire apparatus have quadrupled, going from a standard wait time of one year to around five years.
In a 2025 letter to the attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission, IAFF urged the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division to “investigate and take action against consolidation in fire and emergency vehicle manufacturers.”
Specifically, the complaint points to a series of mergers wherein Oshkosh acquired Maxi-Metal and Pierce manufacturing, which then went on to buy non-controlling ownership interest in Boise Mobile Equipment.
REV Group, Inc. was formed when a private equity firm named American Industrial Partners bought out E-One and combined it with other companies to create Allied Specialty Vehicles Inc., which was then rebranded into REV Group, Inc. The corporation went on to buy Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc., Spartan Fire Apparatus and Spartan ER, among many other fire apparatus companies.
The city’s complaint states that Oshkosh controls more than 50% of the fire apparatus market. Combined with REV Group, Inc., both corporations currently control around 76% of the market, a number that the complaint cites to a February 2025 story written by the New York Times.
The complaint continues on to allege that in the face of rising demand, fire apparatus manufacturers allowed their backlogs to grow and relied on the belief that fire departments would pay increased amounts due to a necessity for these items.
Fullerton is alleging that these companies have “engaged in a coordinated scheme to restrict supply, allocate markets and fix prices for fire apparatus,” according to a city press release.
Fullerton is also claiming that the level of control the defendants have over the market crosses over the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission’s threshold for considering a market “highly concentrated.”
The city stated that it observed skyrocketing prices for fire vehicles and supplies over the past decade, as well as how the companies’ alleged monopoly made it difficult for fire departments to find other companies to form contracts with.
“This arrangement has dramatically diminished competition. If a purchaser in Southern California wants to buy a Ford automobile, they have myriad dealerships to choose from in their area alone. But if they want to buy a Pierce fire apparatus, they have one, and no other Pierce dealers are allowed to sell to them,” the city wrote in its complaint.
Furthermore, the city stated that this operating model created notable backlogs and distribution delays that make it so fire departments must wait years for equipment delivery.
The complaint sees the market’s “skyrocketing prices” as well as delays in delivery as the defendants suppressing competitive behavior.
In the lawsuit complaint, the city spotlights an instance from the 2025 Eaton fires where over 100 of the Los Angeles’ 183 firetrucks were out-of-service. The complaint attributes this number to the city’s inability to replace the firetrucks due to equipment shortages.
“The down-the-line impact on all of this is you have aging equipment serving residents at a point where every second, every minute counts to save their life,” said Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung in an interview with the Daily Titan.
Fullerton is entering this lawsuit as a representative for those who are similarly situated to them, and alleges that the delays and price increases are issues for fire departments across the country.
Oshkosh, REV Group Inc. and Boise Mobile Equipment were reached out to for comment, but did not respond. At the time of writing, a response complaint from the defendants has not yet been filed.